Opportunity
Nearly a decade ago, NASA’s pair of identical twin sister
rovers – christened Spirit & Opportunity- bounced to daunting
airbag-cushioned landings on opposite sides of the Red Planet
for what was supposed to be merely 90 day missions, or maybe
a little bit longer scientists hoped. They were launched by Delta
II boosters a few weeks apart from the Florida Space Coast
during the summer of 2003.
Today, Opportunity celebrates a truly unfathomable
achievement, approaching Year 10 on Mars since she rolled to
a bumpy stop on January 24, 2004 inside tiny Eagle crater. Spirit
continued roving and exploring for over six years until she
unexpectedly died in a hidden sand trap.
And as of late summer 2013, Opportunity had just
arrived at the base of the first Martian mountain she
will ever climb - named Solander Point. Heretofore,
the robot has visited numerous craters big and
small. Craters offer a window into the past history
of Mars.
After investigating the mountains base,
Opportunity will eventually scale Solander in search
of the chemical ingredients that could sustain Martian
microbes. It’s expected to be a super sweet spot for
science, potentially loaded with clays and hydrated
mineral veins and making the most remarkable findings yet
about the planets watery past - thus building upon a long
string of previously unthinkable discoveries due to her totally
unforeseen longevity.
“Regarding achieving nine years, I never thought we’d
achieve nine months!” Principal Investigator Prof. Steve Squyres
of Cornell University told RocketSTEM.
As of November 2013, Opportunity has surpassed 3480 Sols,
or Martian days on the surface. She is now 119 months into the
3 month primary mission - that’s 39 times beyond the 90 day
“warranty.” With her 6th ultra frigid Martian winter approaching,
the golf cart sized rover remains healthy, has snapped over
185,000 images and driven over 23 miles.
The resilient, solar powered Opportunity robot is roving
around beautiful Martian terrain that is remarkably Earth-like
and where life sustaining liquid water once flowed billions of
years ago.
Opportunity is currently located at the western rim of huge
Endeavour crater where she made landfall in August 2011. 14
mile (22 km) wide Endeavour Crater features terrain with older
rocks than previously inspected and unlike anything studied
before.
Since then she spent most of her time investigating a low rise
along the eroded rim named Cape York, where she discovered
phyllosilicate clay minerals on Mars for the first time in history.
At Cape York, the rover investigated “Esperance” rock
during Spring 2013. It was loaded with clay minerals that form
in neutral water - more conducive to life - that ranks as one of
the “Top 5 discoveries of the mission” according to Squyres.
Opportunity is now investigating the foothills of Solander
before ascending the north facing slopes by year’s end to
soak up the sun for the life giving solar arrays during the six
month long Antarctic-like winter.
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